Visions of the Mind
by Twilight and Silence
Summary: A reunion story of Sirius, Remus, and a few characters. Deals with the early stages of Voldemort's return after GoF. MWPP. Spanning years from the end of CoS till the summer after GoF. . .
1. Prologue

Visions of the Mind-Prologue   
  


A women looked out the window at the wind lashing the trees and the brilliant stars. Her sleeping children lay in the rooms behind her but, for once, she was unaware of them. The beauty of the wind tossed night also made no impression on her. Instead, she was seeing ghosts. Ghosts of the life she had forsaken or rather, the life that had forsaken her...   
  


***   
  


A dog paced the length of his narrow room. The same ghosts that the woman saw lurked in his mind but to him they were not friendly. They tore and clawed at his mind driving him deeper and deeper into despair. Meanwhile tall black shadows stood outside his door...   
  


***   
  


Further south, much further south a boy lay sleeping. His dreams seemed to be haunted by something that he could not name, some darkness. He turned uneasily over in his sleep, the moonlight illuminating the scar on his forehead...   
  


***   
  


In another boy's bed a pet rat was curled up, wide awake. He hated nights like this. Rare nights were his conscience troubled him. He tossed and turned, facing an internal struggle. Finally, the side of his mind that always won, won and he drifted of to sleep, unconsciously searching for leftover crumbs from his master's bedtime snack...   
  


***   
  


A tired looking man sat down under a tree in a forest. The sky was obscured with clouds but not for long. He smiled wryly . It was in forest like this that he and...well never mind. The phantoms that the women saw came before his eyes as the full moon came out from behind the clouds and the beginning of the pain was felt....   
  


***   
  


Many, many kilometres away a woman also saw ghosts. She saw the ghosts of the people she had known from so long ago. She stared at the lights of the bright city, wishing that she could leave this exile and return to the world where she belonged. The world that had been shattered. The world that she had grown up in.   
  


Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize are J K Rowling's creations. The rest are mine.   
  


(A/N If you like this, I'll make it into a prologue for a series. If not, this'll be the last you see of it.) 

A/N For all those people who read and reviewed my last fic I just want to say that I don't know who the person narrating is. I believe it is some wizard who is a seer who is opposed to the building of Hogwarts. I don't know his name. Thanks to all the people who reviewed and PLEASE review this one. I'd really like to know what you think.   
  
  
  
  
  



	2. There was no Point in Remembering

_There was No Point in Remembering _

  
  


The cry of a child startled the woman out of her reverie. She turned from the window, where she had been contemplating. 

"Mummy? Mummy! Where are you?!"

The woman entered her child's room. 

"What happened, dear?" she crooned as she sat on the small bed. A white, scared face was visible in the moonlight.

"I had a bad dream..."

"Well, it's over now, sweetie." Siri had never known how to deal with her children's nightmares. She had never been a very imaginative person. Her nightmares consisted of not being able being able to make ends meet in her household. She had never dreamt anything like her daughter's long, fantastic dreams.

"Would you like to tell me about it?" the mother asked. The shaking, little figure then plunged into the story.

"Well, I was in this dark forest, and a bangee started chasing me and den..."

The woman smiled. Her second youngest child's nightmares always started off in a forest. At least, she wouldn't have to worry about Beth wandering off into the forbidden forest when she started at Hogwarts. She shouldn't be the one to talk about not going into the forest, though. When she had gone to Hogwarts.....

"And den, Mummy? D'you know what happened? A big, black dog came towards me! At first I was scared but den he was nice and helped me but den he left and den..." 

Siri froze. A big, black dog? She closed her eyes and saw, from her past, a big black dog, a rat and a deer moving across the grounds of- No, she shook her head. There was no point in remembering. Her daughter, Beth, was finishing. 

"And den I woke up. I was so scared, Mummy..."

"It's alright, dear." Siri soothed. "It was only a bad dream. Would you like me to sit with you until you go back to sleep?" The child whimpered an affirmative noise. 

As she sat in the small room, staring into the darkness, Siri thought about the dog Beth had dreamt about. It wasn't that unusual for children to dream about animals, why did it make her so uneasy? "Why do I ask?" Siri mumbled to herself. She knew perfectly well why it made her uneasy. It didn't mean anything to Beth though. _She _didn't know what her uncle was...well, no point in even thinking about it. Siri looked down at her now sleeping child. With her curly black hair and rosy cheeks she strongly resembled Siri's side of the family, not Roger's. The woman glanced up at the photograph on the wall. It showed a happily waving little girl who bore a remarkable resemblance to Beth. If she flipped the picture over she knew what would see on the back. She would see familiar handwriting saying:

  
  


Siria Elizabeth Black at the age of six

  
  


It had been a long time since she had born the name Black. She had been Siri Wilberforce years before the surname Black had any shame attached to it. Any shame indeed....she shook her head. What was the point in remembering? None. None at all. Siria heaved herself up from the bedside and resumed her place at the window, staring north, as though willing herself to see into the far distance. 

  
  


***

  
  
  
  


It is many miles, even as the bird flies, from Siri's cosy house to the spot where her mind dwelt. A small house in the south of England can bear no comparison to this place. It is dark and cold, with wild waves crashing all around. At least, that is how it was when I was last there, and that is how I imagine it is still, if it still exists. It has no beauty, it is rock. Harsh, hard rock. Dreary, depressing rock. It is a place where happiness, joy, is not possible. A horrible place.

The same night that Siri stood at the window, a black dog was pacing the floor of a small stone cell. He was pacing in his own hell. He ravaged his mind for a kind memory but was incapable of recalling one. He was driven deeper and deeper into despair. As he curled up on the cold, stone floor unaware that many miles away a patient face had her thoughts turned towards him. 

  
  


***

  
  


"Thank goodness there are clouds tonight." were the thoughts of one tired man who stood in the middle of a forest. He leaned against an oak, exhausted. That particular oak reminded him of...well, what was the point in remembering? His thoughts wandered back to the letter he had received earlier that day. He would be faced with even more memories if he accepted the post that was offered within the letter. But could he not accept?: Could he accept? Now was not the time for a moral conflict, he noted, as the clouds began clearing and moonlight became visible.

  
  


*** 

  
  


Siria turned from the window and began to head downstairs. She had to finish her assignment from work. At the top of the stairs, she noticed something disturbed her. There was a light underneath a door. 

"Callie!" she called, "turn that light off and go to sleep!"

"Aww, Mum.." her oldest daughter replied. "I'm just at the good part.." Siri enter her daughter's room.

"Calandra Wilberforce. It's 10:30. You _know_ you cannot be up this late reading. Especially when it's muggle books like that one." She did not notice the look of pain that crossed her daughter's face. 

"I'm just at the part where he's racing to Rivendell with the Black Riders behind him. Can't I just finish the chapter?" Callie asked. 

"No" her mother snapped. "You can finish it tomorrow. After you're done your History of Magic essay, of course." 

"But Mum.." 

"No." And with that Siri closed the door. Halfway down the hall, she paused. Rivendell? Black Riders? Where did she know those names from? She knocked on her daughter's door. 

"Er, Callie?"

"Yes" a voice replied shortly.

"What're you reading again?" 

"_The Followship of the Ring._ First part of the _Lord of the Rings_. By Tolkien. J R R Tolkien." 

"Oh" Siria replied. "Thank you. Goodnight, sweetie."

"'Night Mum." 

_The Lord of the Rings._ No wonder the names had seemed familiar. Two of her friends from Hogwarts had loved that book, they were muggle born. Lil and Gwen had read Tolkien books year after year and were constantly making references to it. They could remember every small detail from it. 

She could almost hear Lily's voice saying, "Shame, shame, Rea. Not letting your daughter read Tolkien? How_ can_ you?" 

Then she recalled Gwen's voice saying, "Y'know, Lily. I'm so glad that we don't have the kind of mother's who discourage us from reading. Wouldn't it be awful if we did?" 

"Shut _up_" said Siri to the two voices that came from beyond the grave. "Fine. If that's the way you want it..." She stomped over to her daughter's door again. 

"Callie? You can read for half an hour longer if you like. But no longer."

"Thanks Mum!" her daughter's glad voice cried. 

As Siri walked down the hall, she asked, "Happy now?" to the silence. 

  
  


***

  
  


Far away, a woman was holding a battered, old book in her hands. Its smell reminded her of times past, a time when the dog, the mother and the man in the forest had all been together. She sighed and placed the book on the night table. The electric light illuminated the title,_ The Fellowship of the Ring_.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


A/N: Some thank you's to certain people. Firstly, thank you to Andrew for patiently Beta reading this for me, and putting up with me shooting down all his ideas. And thank you to Sirius and Trinity Day and Qwyneth for reviewing all my stories. Thank you to Qwyneth for all the constructive advice she gave me. And thanks to all the other wonderful people who took the time to review... and by the way...review this part please.... 


	3. Burning Fires and Goodnights

_Burning fires and Goodnights_

  
  
  
  


The fire cackled happily. Apples were crunched, mugs of tea were being sipped. Little children were nodding off on the couch. Altogether, it was a peaceful scene. But the atmosphere in the air was anything but peaceful. The adults in the room were scared, tense, and upright. Sitting on the couch with the children was a woman with black, curly hair and a worried face. She was curled up against her tall husband. 

Reclined back in a deep armchair, there was a man nervously balancing his teacup on his knee. The firelight illuminated his tired face, with greyish hair surrounding it. 

Dark, hollow eyes bore deep into the flickering fire, the eyes belonging to a tall thin figure, hunched up on the pouffe. He was holding his cup as if he had forgotten how to hold one, perhaps he had. He had the air of someone who is lost, someone who knows not what to do or say. 

The voices were silent in the room. They had talked for hours of many things . . .

  
  


_Of ships, and sails and sealing wax and cabbages and kings _(A/N Sorry! Sorry. . . that just slipped out) 

  
  
  
  


They had talked of events past and recent. . .there seemed now to be nothing left that they could say, and a great many things that they wished to say but dared not to. There was just that uncomfortable silence. The only peaceful figure (besides the sleeping children) in the room was a young girl, curled up in a chair with a book, oblivious to her surroundings. 

The blacked haired woman glanced fretfully up at the clock The clock, which was a very odd clock for this household, considering it was just an average muggle clock, albeit an old fashioned one, read 10:30. She whispered to her husband, "Roger? Perhaps we'd better take these kids up to bed." 

"I'll do it." Roger replied. " You stay here." Carrying the two small ones in his arms, he carefully exited up the stairs.. 

The departure of the little ones did nothing to ease the tension... there were too many events, too many memories to make this meeting comfortable. 

"Anyway. . . ." said the dark haired woman.

"Well. . . ." said the man in the chair. Voices heard by nobody but them seemed to fill the air. The past . . . would it never leave?

"I guess. . . ." started the woman.

"Anyway. . . ." continued the armchair man.

"Well. . . ." The woman paused again, at loss for words. Then she found a subject to form a sentence upon. "Callie. You should be in bed." she said sternly. 

A pained expression was in the green eyes of her daughter. Why did her mother have to be so darned oppressive all the time?

Sensing yet another confrontation between mother and daughter, the man in the armchair quickly asked, "What're you reading, Callie?" 

"The Amber Spyglass. Philip Pullman. I got it and some other books for my birthday." answered the girl.

"From whom?" the man continued conversationally.

The girl paused. She glanced at her mother, whose lips were in a tight white line. Turning back to the man, she stuttered: " Well. . .umm. . . I'm not quite sure. They arrived in a package. . . muggle post." Roger was muggle born, and kept close ties with that world. Thus, the Wilberforce family received both wizard and muggle mail. " There was no card, no signature, no note or . . .anything. Just the books. . . And they were books that I had been looking for. . . for a very long time, as well. Like this one here." She gestured to the novel in her lap. "I had been waiting three years for it to come out. . . and then, this came. . . signed by the author too. . . ." 

She trailed off, noticing the dark expression on her Mum's face. "Well. . . that's interesting. . . ." began the man.

"Interesting!" the woman's voice came sharply. _"Interesting!! _It's _too_ mysterious for my taste!!" Siria's face was white and her eyes were flaming with anger and frustration. " I wished that I had just burned those books!" she continued. 

"Oh goodness, Siri. You're making a bit of fuss of noth-" started the man.

"_Nothing?!_" interrupted the woman. "I'll tell you what I think, Remus! I think that Cal-"

But she too was interrupted. A half growl came from the fireside. "Leave her alone, Rea."

The voice was the voice of the silent man upon the pouffe. "Just shut up and leave her alone." 

"But. . . ." Siri stopped when she saw who was speaking. 

There was silence again. (A/N, I seem to like silence don't I? Twilight in my next part!)

"Callie. You should go to bed. . . ." said Siri again. 

The girl stood up, hugged her mother good night, said, "'Night Mum, good night Uncle Remus." She walked to the door, paused. Looking back into the dim room, she said, "And goodnight. . . Uncle Sirius." 

The man jerked at the sound of his name. For a second he was unsure of how to reply, then he remembered from his distant past. . . . "Goodnight . . .Calandra." The girl smiled, and left the room. 

A cry of a child sounded from upstairs. Noting it, the man in the armchair stood up. "I suppose we'd better be going now, too."

"Yes." said the woman, standing up as well. "I think Roger needs my help upstairs." 

"We'll see you in the meeting tomorrow?" asked Remus. 

Siri grimaced. "We're not going to be able to miss it."

"Well. . . then, goodnight, I guess. I'll see you at Hogwarts." 

"G'night boys. . . I'll see you tomorrow." 

Moments later, all that was left in the room were the dying embers of the fire. 

  
  


***

Five minutes later, and many miles away, there was another fire going. The flames it reflected were of a much less cosier room, though. The few pieces of furniture were shabby . Equally shabby were the robes that it illuminated. The owner of these robes stood up from where he had been making the fire. "Well, that's that." 

"Remus?" A voice sounded from the darkness. 

"Yes, Sirius?" 

"Did we tell Rea about my being an Animagus?" 

Remus frowned into the firelight, "I don't seem to recall that we did. . . but we must have. The story is unexplainable without the Animagi factor. . . "

"Yes, yes,_ I _ know that." said Sirius impatiently. "But I don't recall her having any sort of reaction. Wouldn't you think that she would?"

Remus ran over the events of the evening in his head, "That's right. She didn't. But... are you thinking that she knew about it before?" 

:Sirius shrugged. "That thought crossed my mind. I don't see how though. We never told the girls, did we?

"Unless. . . :" Remus paused. "Unless. . . James told Lily and Lily told Siri."

"A possibility."

"Well that would explain it."

"Yes, it would."

"But. . ." Remus felt that something was not being said. 

:"It just doesn't seem right, somehow." Sirius explained.

"Well. . . it's not important anyway." Remus brushed the conversation aside as he left the room. "The story's told. . . and there's that meeting tomorrow. 'Night."

"'Night."

The form of a black dog curled up upon the hearth rug. 

  
  


***

  
  


There was a room that was very mugglish. In fact, you could probably find no room that was more mugglish than this. The furniture, the decorations, everything was neat, and dead dull and boring. Yet in that room, _that_ room, there were two robed figures sitting by the gas fireplace. 

One spoke, "Igh, and you call_ this_ a fire. Why, a spark is better than this! How can you_ live_ like this?" 

Another voice laughed bitterly, "Well, I manage. Which is what I _have _been doing for years."

The first voice was hesitant. "You'll be there tomorrow, won't you?" 

The bitter voice replied, "I don't have much choice, do I? Why even bother to ask?"

"Merely for conversation's sake." 

"I don't like conversation. " retorted the second voice.

"Really?" said the first voice lightly. "Could have fooled me." 

"Seera,_ please_. I'm in no mood for jesting."

A sigh came from the original voice. "Yes, of course." A pause. "I should be going now. Tomorrow?" 

"Tomorrow." the other figure whispered, as she stared at the impersonal gas fireplace, and tried to imagine it as something else. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Thank yous now. Firstly, everlasting appreciation goes out to Andrew, for beta-reading this, and for being the great person he is (sorry, Ange! Had to put that in there.) Thank you to all my reviewers, : _Lily Evans Potter_, Bri- Lei, _Sarah Weasley_, Spunky, _I Am Canadian_, Aria* (Lily was friends with anyone who liked books. . . in my version of her. ) _E K Nighthawk_ (No . . .in the first chapter she didn't know that he wasn't guilty. . .but she does now. ) Ariana, _Mariel Avalon_, Svolkame, _Rebecca_, VyingQuill_~_, _Lilly Potter_ and everyone that reviewed the prologue. 

  
  


Please be kind and review this one? 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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